In our lives, we come across people that serve others their whole life and walk away with very little, if anything. What if one man or family do not accept that as the norm and want to make a difference and lead by example? Cornelia is an average black woman from Africa that raised her children by herself, works as a cleaning lady and lives in a shack. Not a bad looking one, but a shack nonetheless and that would, in all likelihood, be her home till the end of her days.One family wanted her to have more, not only for the here and now, but also for the future. To help her achieve that, they came up with a wonderful idea, not only to help her build a house but also to create an income for her later in life. The house was designed with two rooms with own entrances to be rented out. This monthly income helps her subsidise her house repayments and will later become a regular income when she can no longer work (like a pension).
However, it does not end there. A partnership between funder, buyer, MMM SAT a professional builder and Work4All a (a local church initiative to provide work for people infected with HIVAids) was formed to not only build the house but to give training, experience, skills and work to those that were novices. The work force consisted of patients from Sophumelela Aids Clinic who were supervised by Joshua, a young man who is employed by Work4All but who also has a vision to build churches.
The work site became a real draw card in the community, as it was different in many ways from the usual building site in Scenery Park. Some of these differences were that white people were seen coming and going (an unusual occurrence in that part of town), the atmosphere on the site was joyful and friendly, the site was neat, a house being built looked solid and a real sense of pride radiated from those who were building it. Many of the locals who saw what was happening stopped to chat and ask questions.
The house truly stands as a beacon to the Lord and to the obedience of an employer, who wanted to show God's love in a practical way, a team of men who were empowered and chose to help another and to an organisation who seeks to demonstrate God's love in a practical way. In His amazing way, God has chosen to draw an unusual line under this unusual project. A week ago, Joshua (the Work4All supervisor) returned and held a church service for 25 people in a tent pitched in the yard of a house in the community.
One house, not only making a difference to one person but a community and so for eternity. A house was built and a church rose from the foundations.
